Refurbished hard drives
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My R310 from Stallard Technologies is functioning fine for my home lab. This got me thinking about using refurbished items for my company. I know many folks think highly of used and refurbished servers from reputable sources. Does this same praise and confidence extend to hard drives themselves? I'm looking to expand the storage on my T620 (and repurpose the attached via iSCSI Synology, likely for backup), and it appears I can safe a significant amount of money with refurbished Dell hard drives.
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Sure I'd use em, it all depends on what it's for.
I wouldn't suggest them for any prime business functionality
Backup drives? Hell yes, ditto cold storage
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Use for these would be the storage on our Hyper-V host in the office (Domain controller, file server, Dev VMs, Spiceworks, Wiki, etc.).
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The value isn't just from the upfront cost of the drives, it comes with the warranty that you get from buying from a reputable business.
That business will send you a replacement drive if the drives die or have issues.
So no I don't have a ton of faith in used drives, I have a lot of faith in warranties.
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@DustinB3403 said in Refurbished hard drives:
The value isn't just from the upfront cost of the drives, it comes with the warranty that you get from buying from a reputable business.
That business will send you a replacement drive if the drives die or have issues.
So no I don't have a ton of faith in used drives, I have a lot of faith in warranties.
I agree about the idea of value. I would obviously make sure reburished drives would carry some kind of warranty (and evaluate the promise of how quickly replacements can be delivered).
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@EddieJennings said in Refurbished hard drives:
@DustinB3403 said in Refurbished hard drives:
The value isn't just from the upfront cost of the drives, it comes with the warranty that you get from buying from a reputable business.
That business will send you a replacement drive if the drives die or have issues.
So no I don't have a ton of faith in used drives, I have a lot of faith in warranties.
I agree about the idea of value. I would obviously make sure reburished drives would carry some kind of warranty (and evaluate the promise of how quickly replacements can be delivered).
And maybe buy a spare, just in case.
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I typically wouldn't purchase refurbished drives because everything has a lifespan. Its kind of like what my FIL says about used cars. You're just buying somebody else's problems. You just don't know what those problems are until they come to bite you in the butt.
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@NerdyDad said in Refurbished hard drives:
I typically wouldn't purchase refurbished drives because everything has a lifespan.
Refurbed is not used. It's lifespan is the same as any other new product.
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Hard drives are either new or used. I can't see how a HDD can be refurbished.. there is 'nothing' on/in it that can be replaced... typically.
Server / Desktops are a different story..
In the past when I knew the server was slated to be retired / scraped - I was fine with picking up used HDDs - even from eBay.
Did that twelve years ago to an HP ML350 - picked up a set of six drives for like $50... Even if one failed in a month, I still had five more.
After four more years of running, I still had four drives and the box was still chugging along.
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@gjacobse said in Refurbished hard drives:
Hard drives are either new or used. I can't see how a HDD can be refurbished.. there is 'nothing' on/in it that can be replaced... typically.
The platters, heads, etc.
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@scottalanmiller said in Refurbished hard drives:
@gjacobse said in Refurbished hard drives:
Hard drives are either new or used. I can't see how a HDD can be refurbished.. there is 'nothing' on/in it that can be replaced... typically.
The platters, heads, etc.
I wouldn't bother replacing the heads or platters. the Main external PCB - yea. But anything internal I would just buy another...
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@gjacobse said in Refurbished hard drives:
@scottalanmiller said in Refurbished hard drives:
@gjacobse said in Refurbished hard drives:
Hard drives are either new or used. I can't see how a HDD can be refurbished.. there is 'nothing' on/in it that can be replaced... typically.
The platters, heads, etc.
I wouldn't bother replacing the heads or platters. the Main external PCB - yea. But anything internal I would just buy another...
Well yeah, because YOU are not the manufacturer. We are talking about refurbed here, not "messed around with by random IT people." I'm so confused.
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Why would the manufacturer mill out new metal chassis when they just need to pop in a fresh platter?
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@scottalanmiller said in Refurbished hard drives:
Why would the manufacturer mill out new metal chassis when they just need to pop in a fresh platter?
There's no way that they actually refurb'd a drive - absolutely no way. This is just a word for used.
I'd be shocked if you have proof that anyone is popping these drives open in a clean room to swap parts.
At best refurb'd here means that they tested it and or did a full drive wipe. At best
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@scottalanmiller said in Refurbished hard drives:
Why would the manufacturer mill out new metal chassis when they just need to pop in a fresh platter?
Why would a manufacturer pay the labor costs involved to save a $0.50 part?
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@MattSpeller said in Refurbished hard drives:
@scottalanmiller said in Refurbished hard drives:
Why would the manufacturer mill out new metal chassis when they just need to pop in a fresh platter?
There's no way that they actually refurb'd a drive - absolutely no way. This is just a word for used.
I'd be shocked if you have proof that anyone is popping these drives open in a clean room to swap parts.
At best refurb'd here means that they tested it and or did a full drive wipe. At best
That first part is correct. They are actually new drives in most cases. Refurb means it has to be good as actual new. There can be nothing like just testing it, ever. Not possible.
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@scottalanmiller said in Refurbished hard drives:
@MattSpeller said in Refurbished hard drives:
@scottalanmiller said in Refurbished hard drives:
Why would the manufacturer mill out new metal chassis when they just need to pop in a fresh platter?
There's no way that they actually refurb'd a drive - absolutely no way. This is just a word for used.
I'd be shocked if you have proof that anyone is popping these drives open in a clean room to swap parts.
At best refurb'd here means that they tested it and or did a full drive wipe. At best
That first part is correct. They are actually new drives in most cases. Refurb means it has to be good as actual new. There can be nothing like just testing it, ever. Not possible.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/refurbish
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/everyday-tech/refurbished-electronic.htm
"The one thing the label means with any certainty is that a refurbished item can't be sold as new. Because of that, and possibly because of the ambiguity of the "refurbished" label, consumers often shy away from buying refurbished products, even when they may be perfectly fine."
I'm pretty sure thats about all anyone can say about refurbished IT gear - it's not "new".
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@MattSpeller said in Refurbished hard drives:
I'm pretty sure thats about all anyone can say about refurbished IT gear - it's not "new".
Can't be SOLD as new. Refurb is almost always new. If you are in IT, that is very important to know. It why you want refurb basically always. Because it means "good as new" and 99% of the time is ACTUALLY new.
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That's the beauty of refurb, getting gear at a fraction of the price because of "new" label restrictions. So you get new for 60% of the original price.
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Some companies also use refurb as a label for older stock so that they don't have too many options available through their "new" channels.
